A rebuilding year for the West 琉璃神社 D-Backs was highlighted by positive play from Penticton players.

Seven members of the South Okanagan Minor Baseball Association helped fill out the D-Backs roster this year in the of B.C. Baseball.

鈥淲e were really happy with the way they performed,鈥� said Aqil Samuel, who assisted D-Backs coach Tom Kalentikoff.

The D-Backs picked up bantam AA Tigers Cole Boczulak, AJ Reiter, Aden Samuel, Tate Larson, Seth Kennedy and midget AA players Monty Tebbutt and Jacob Oberik.

鈥淚t was a big learning curve for all seven. They really stepped up,鈥� said Samuel.

The D-Backs won six of 37 games and went 13 and 36 overall to finish last in the nine-team league. Samuel said the goal for next season is to win half of their games and be a top-five team. Samuel doesn鈥檛 have illusions of how difficult it will be saying they will need 14 more wins.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 an easy year. We asked a lot from them,鈥� said Samuel, adding the younger players jumped three levels to play with the D-Backs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only going to bode well for next year. They just have to get bigger, faster and stronger. That extra year of development is really important.鈥�

Six players from Penticton will return and Samuel said it鈥檚 possible more will make the team. It鈥檚 become a good partnership to have players from both cities, especially since Samuel said West 琉璃神社 doesn鈥檛 have enough players to field a full squad at that level.

Reiter had the second best batting average at .388, while collecting 11 runs batted in. Tebbutt was right behind with a .382 average and 13 RBIs. Kennedy had a .359 average.